Poverty conversation combats taboo

"Who are the deserving poor" was the question of the Oct. 18 Oregon Humanities conversation about poverty. The 10th conversation in the series, the event was sponsored by the City of Springfield and was attended by 11 individuals, both in the community and on the Diversity Committee through the City.

The goal of the conversation is to "connect people to ideas and to each other, not to push an agenda or arrive at a consensus," Vahana Keene, one of the committee members said in her talking points.

The moderator for the conversation was Erica Tucker from Portland, who is a social worker tha...